News

November 9, 2011CommFort 5.30 release

Interface improvements

     Support for multiline pop-up messages has been added.

     Support for animation when pop-up messages appear has been added.

     Support for searching channel contents has been added.

     Numerous minor additions and changes: administrators can view information about users offline, drop-down menu for the subject field, channel name is displayed in user list, warning when a suspicious link is clicked, support for drag-and-drop to the window of a received private message, support for copying the name and IP address of unprocessed activation requests, and much more.

Additional features

     The new server version implements three additional functions for owners of special licenses: two for corporate use, one for home network use.

     Correspondence in common channels is saved. If this function is activated, then when entering a common channel, the preceding correspondence for the set number of days will be displayed.

     Forcing of client options. Client options can now be managed from the server.

     Replacement of system messages. When used on home networks, much of the information published on channels consists of messages about users entering/exiting. For the sake of variety, it is now possible to replace the standard system messages with a list of messages compiled by the administrator.

     Additionally, we have started offering new options for the server component. See the purchase page for details.

July 26, 2011CommFort 5.20 release

[C] — this function requires updating the client application only
[S] — this function requires updating the server application only
[C+S] — this function will work only when the new-version client connects to the new-version server

Changes to enhance audio and video chat and file transfer

     Added transferring files and video chat traffic via the server. Activating this function enables using these services between clients in different networks. [C+S]

     Added audio data compression. Highly efficient compression reduces the consumption of network resources by audio chat up to 10 times without noticeable deterioration. [C]

     Changed the way of configuring the format of transmitted video stream. The format is now configured by means of CommFort, no longer by means of webcam software. This not only makes it more convenient, but also resolves the issue of the format change failure that occurred with some webcams (popping the "Format not supported" message). [C]

     Added initiating video chat with multiple peers by a single click. The implementation is similar to sending a message to multiple recipients. [C+S]

Other changes

     Added exclusions to the limitation on the number of accounts by computer ID. [S]

     Fixed logging of administrative operations over the message board on the server. [S]

     Added listing addresses entered earlier in the "Server address" field of the client options. [C]

Furthermore, many minor changes and fixes have been made. Be reminded that the new versions are fully compatible with the other versions of the 5.хх family.

April 6, 2011CommFort 5.10 release

[C] — this function requires updating the client application only
[S] — this function requires updating the server application only
[C+S] — this function will work only when the new-version client connects to the new-version server

Changes aimed at improving the usability of the software

     Changed indication for read board messages. Earlier, to mark a board message read, it was necessary to show its title at least once; now, besides that, it is also necessary to close current board session. Of course, board messages opened earlier are also considered read. [C]

     Added selecting conversation history by time only. It is now possible to get, for example, messages from all users, received during the last day. Or, messages in all channels, posted during the last hour. [C]

     Added receiving files without prompt from certain users. You can now select specific users, whose files are going to be received automatically. [C]

     Added selecting playback device for voice chat. This improvement is helpful when using separate independent devices for voice chat, such as headset. [C]

Changes aimed at improving the administration

     Added viewing server logs from client computers. Added viewing server logs from client computers. The logs are available only to administrators with the respective privilege. [C+S]

     Added exclusions for mandatory activation of user accounts. For example, you can now set moderator account activation only to users connecting from the Internet. [C+S]

     Added restricting the maximum number of accounts per computer ID. [S]

     Added canceling restrictions (bans) on server. This is helpful when a malefactor gains access to an administrator account and restricts (bans) the administrator. [S]

Besides these, tens of other minor changes and fixes have been applied, enhanced interoperability with plugins. Be reminded, the new versions are fully compatible with other versions of the 5.хх. family.

November 2, 2010CommFort client 5.03 release

Improvements

— Redesigned rights management interface

Bug fixes

— Fixed a bug which led to the rare appearance of black lines instead of the choice of poll answers
— Fixed a bug related to changes in the state of user account activation
— Fixed a bug that affected items on the user menu when the video connection was lost or files were transferred on the server

An additional 14 modifications and fixes.

November 2, 2010CommFort server 5.03 release

Improvements

— Redesigned rights management interface
— The moderator’s name is now shown in the restrictions list if an anonymous restriction is set

Bug fixes

— Solved a problem with granting moderation rights to channels with names containing uppercase characters

An additional 5 modifications and fixes.

August 30, 2010CommFort 5 release

5.00 is a new, fully revised version of CommFort that is incompatible with previous versions.

Main new features:

Video chat with the support of conferences. The voice chat module has been completely revised. Now it's possible to send video from a webcam and also use simultaneous communication (a conference) between several users (maximum number of conference users is 32). As before, the module is optimized for use over broadband networks and ensures the maximum quality of video and audio with minimum delays.

A new bulletin board. Now the bulletin board supports structuring, comments, added images, polls, and emoticons.

Unicode support. Besides the complete freedom to use any written language, Unicode solves any possible problems with encodings and system language restrictions.

The updated protocol makes it possible to cope with double the load of the previous version. The estimated load has increased from 2,500 to 5,000 connections, while the maximum load has increased from 4,000 to 10,000 connections.

Smaller changes have been made to other components of the program: file transfer, user information, individual user settings, and administration.

As before, the upgrade is free for the owners of a license for the server side of the previous versions. These registered users will receive a link to the new version within 48 hours of release.

January 18, 2010CommFort client 4.41 release

New features

— Support for links in text copied from chat history

Bug fixes

— Fix for bug that allowed hackers to cause server disconnection of certain users
— Several minor bugs fixed

January 18, 2010CommFort server 4.41 release

Improvements

— Greater stability of connections to clients during peak loads
— Enhanced protection against unauthorized access to account passwords by means of brute-force attack

Bug fixes

— Several minor bugs fixed

November 30, 2009CommFort client 4.40 release

New features

— Full Windows 7 support added
— Support for connection via proxy server
— Capability to open user menu in the message editor window
— Function to sort within the requests table for user account activation*

Improvements

— Complete redesign of the message history system. The primary features of the new system are storing text formatting and images, and displaying smilies
— Upgraded options structure
— Improved format of popup messages in the tray
— Improved structure of popup user menu
— Optimizations adopted for saving resources during input/output operations
— Six minor changes and additions implemented

Bug fixes

— Solution to error that disabled closing of the message window (in rare cases)
— Solution to error that caused blinking of channel content when overloaded with data (rare)
— Nine other minor errors fixed

* These changes will be active in the new version of the client together with the new version of the server.

November 30, 2009CommFort server 4.40 release

New features

— Full Windows 7 support added
— Function to individually restrict access by IP for each network interface
— Exclusions added to limit number of accounts per IP address

Improvements

— Optimizations adopted for saving resources on input/output operations
— Improved internal operations with the account activation database
— Improved automatic cleaning of the account activation database
— Maximum number of pages in advertisement block increased from 16 to 32 (Unlimited Premium License only)

Bug fixes

— Several minor bugs fixed

July 14, 2009CommFort client 4.30 release

New features

— Feature added to manage the account activation database*
— Sound notification function for new activation requests
— Option to add emoticons to a separate ‘favorites’ group
— Customization of users by individual IP addresses or an IP address range
— Feature to assign sounds to identify particular user actions
— Option to hide the taskbar button
— Capability to automatically clear unused statuses
— Option to disable tray popup messages for statuses
— Feature to set duration of tray popup messages
— Capability added to receive files without a request
— Support for links to channels and messages in the advertisement block

Improvements

— Improved authentication and account management system
— Improvements to the rights management, channel management and account activation interface
— Easier operation using multi-monitor configurations
— An enhanced ‘Add link’ dialog box
— Improved interaction between links and emoticons
— Improved support for tab characters

Bug fixes

— Fix for conflicts in the activity of certain windows

An additional 29 modifications and fixes.

* These changes will be active in the new version of the client together with the new version of the server.

July 14, 2009CommFort server 4.30 release

New features

— Option to specify channels connected by default
— Capability to reset to default settings
— Option to limit the maximum number of daily invitations to channels
— Capability to specify logged actions
— Added control for how log files are separated
— Capability to create an advertising block consisting of several pages
— Option to rotate various pages of an advertising block in real time

Improvements

— Damage protection incorporated for databases of channels, restrictions, rights and activation
— Improvements to the channel invitation system*
— An enhanced permission management interface
— Introduction of features to reduce the server load
— Improved interface for controlling the options of the Unlimited Premium license

Bug fixes

— Fix for a rare bug that prevented a user from leaving a channel

An additional 12 modifications and fixes.

* These changes will be active in the new version of the client together with the new version of the server.

March 18, 2009CommFort client 4.21 release

New features

— It is now possible to import parameters from the file commandline.txt

Bug fixes

— 4 minor bugs have been fixed

March 18, 2009CommFort server 4.21 release

Bug fixes

— 3 bugs have been fixed, including one that interrupted program operation with the error "Abnormal program termination"

March 2, 2009CommFort client 4.20 release

New features

— Quick search now available in the user list
— Function to display when selected users are offline
— Image posting in PNG format
— Display of GIF and PNG images as photos
— Option to save the received message list after a program restart
— Option to set the default user menu action to private chat
— Automatic check for updates

Improvements

— Lower requirements for RAM resources
— A completely revised channel list
— mproved interface for account administration
— Improved moderator interface for account activation
— Enhanced interface for user customization
— More effective link management system
— Improved icon tray functionality
— Optimised restricitions list for handling many items
— 23 minor changes/improvements

Bug fixes

— 7 different bugs have been fixed

March 2, 2009CommFort server 4.20 release

New features

— Option to send private messages to offline users*
— Capability to identify users by computer ID*
— Addition of system for standard and private message delivery conformation*
— Option to display a greetings message when a connection to the server is established*
— Option added to log every authentication event

Improvements

— Revised settings interface
— Increased maximum number of stored messages from one user
— 10 minor changes/improvements

Bug fixes

— 3 different bugs have been fixed

* These changes will be active in the new version of the client together with the new version of the server.

January 12, 2009The section for publishing skins

The section for publishing skins created by CommFort users is now available on the site.


October 27, 2008CommFort client 4.10 release

New features

— Emoticons and images can now be displayed in the tray popup messages
— Single-file skins are now supported (compatibility with old skins is preserved)
— Option now available to access the menu of a user responsible for posting a bulletin board message
— Option to access a user menu in the received message window
— Capability to copy a link from a bulletin board message to the clipboard
— Links to channels are now supported in bulletin board messages
— Automatic clearing of outdated cache files
— Option to sort users by IP address

Improvements

— Several minor changes have been made

Bug fixes

— A number of bugs have been fixed

October 27, 2008CommFort server 4.10 release

New features

— User authorization function now available for instances where a user with the same authorization data is in the chat*
— Capability to send a message from an unauthorized user to the chat administrator in case the limit of accounts from one IP address is exceeded*
— IP address display of the user who posted a bulletin board message*
— Option to disable flood protection for a certain user*.

Improvements

— Relocation of the standard emoticons set into a separate folder to prevent overwriting of the custom emoticons set when a new version is installed*
— Updating of the user disconnection system for instances when the connection is broken*
— Several other minor changes.

Bug fixes

— Solution to the problem of the bad word filter bug, which caused an error during action of replacing bad words with the "*" character
— Fix for the flood protection bug, which incorrectly triggered the system in the event of an unstable network
— Several bugs have been fixed

* These changes will be active in the new version of the client together with the new version of the server.

August 14, 2008CommFort client 4.02 release

Bug fixes

— Fixed 5 various bugs

August 14, 2008CommFort server 4.02 release

Improvements

— Made one minor improvement

Bug fixes

— Fixed 10 various bugs

July 30, 2008CommFort 4 release

4.00 is a new, completely revised version of CommFort. The main changes are:
— New client side interface
— New authentication system
— New administration system
— Lower network load
— Improved file transfer in case of unstable network performance
— Flood protection system
— Special functions for corporate users

The interface and protocol have been completely revised. The new version of CommFort allows you to communicate and exchange information over the network even more CommFortably and conveniently!

To make software upgrades even easier, the new versions for both server and client can simultaneously operate with earlier versions (a different port is used by default).

As before, this update is completely free for license holders.

January 4, 2008FAQ

October 1, 2007CommFort client 3.20 release

New features

— New options available for history, management, tray icons, and port assignment
— Option added for pasting clipboard images
— New function for last message display when private chat is next activated

Improvements

— Improved interface
— Performance optimized

Bug fixes

— A large number of bugs fixed

October 1, 2007CommFort server 3.20 release

New features

— Capability added to forbid channels
— Capability added to hide addresses of MAC users

Improvements

— Performance optimized

Bug fixes

— Bug fixed solving error 51(0) on the client side
— Several other bugs fixed

May 28, 2007TuCows award

CommFort software has been awarded the highest rating available on Tucows.com — 5 cows.

This and other awards won by our software are listed on a special page.

May 16, 2007CommFort client 3.10 release

New features

— Function added to save images from the chat window
— Function added for tray icon selection
— Introduction of a ‘new links’ concept

Improvements

— An improved user interface
— A completely reworked user list
— Improved performance for over 500 active users
— Improved drag-n-drop support
— 23 minor changes applied

Bug fixes

— Several errors fixed for Windows Vista
— 17 general bugs fixed

May 16, 2007CommFort server 3.10 release

New features

— Message disabling of multiple recipients
— Addition of an automatic restrictions system
— Addition of network interface selection to restrict connections

Improvements

— Optimized application code; CPU consumption significantly reduced
— 3 minor changes applied

Bug fixes

— Error fixed to solve redundant network load when over 200 users are connected
— 2 additional errors fixed

December 11, 2006CommFort 3 release

New, fully updated version of CommFort now available!

The major add-ons in this new version are the bulletin board service and the extended management capabilities. In addition, the operating protocol has been completely renewed. Thanks to the new optimizations, the network load has significantly dropped, leading to improved stability and the increase of the maximum number of client users to 4,000. There is also added support for NAT technology and terminal clients. Users can now connect to several ports concurrently and enjoy the new user interface, which is far more convenient. The new user profile form now not only allows the inclusion of all your information but also the addition of your photograph. The program’s interface can now be customized with even greater flexibility as it now supports skins, while Smilies are now animated. We have comprehensively reworked the program’s help system and added detailed descriptions of all nuances that may occur while using the program. The new version will bring your home or corporate network communications to a brand new level!

To make the transition to CommFort 3 easier, you can work with both CommFort 1 and CommFort 2.

Registered users with licenses for older versions of CommFort will receive the new license absolutely free.